LONDON CITY NIGHTS

Thursday, September 12, 2013

‘The Drowned Man’ by Punchdrunk, 11th September 2013

Thursday, September 12, 2013 - by londoncitynights · - 0 Comments

Being in The Drowned Man is like exploring a stranger's dream.  This is less a theatrical production and more a slice of some weird alternative reality that’s collapsed into our own.  I love immersive theatre: the demolition of the boundary between audience and action, leaving you to construct a personal narrative based on your own experiences.

The Drowned Man occupies an enormous ex-Post Office sorting depot right next to Paddington Station.  Punchdrunk have transformed the interior of this unprepossessing building into a mausoleum to the Golden Age of Hollywood.  This hallowed time and place occupies a very special place in the popular consciousness; a glitzy town full of 'man’s men' movie stars: Bogart, Peck, Cagney; Wayne; Cooper; Tracy.  And the women!  This was the age of true glamour, dotted with sequins, encircled in feather boas, dramatic lids seductively fluttering under perfectly coiffed locks.  All of this wreathed in a haze of swirling cigarette smoke and washed down with neat whiskey.  

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

'Gazing at the World while Hanging from the Sky: A Retrospective' - Ofelia Rodriguez, Consulate General of Colombia, 9th July 2013

Wednesday, July 10, 2013 - by londoncitynights · - 0 Comments

Gazing at the World while hanging from the Sky, mixed media, 2009

It's a strange feeling getting an invitation to the Consulate General of Colombia.  I usually experience my art tucked away in obscurity, hidden in decaying industrial warehouses, or emerging from East London garages.  Lately though, with a weekend spent at the Freud Museum and this night at the Colombian Consulate I feel like I've taken a step towards the art establishment.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it's an odd feeling to having a the constant presence of a nation state looming over the work, though at least here it appears to be a benevolent one.

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